Friends said that they reported him missing on Saturday morning after a false fire alarm. He was discovered when somebody looked at a security tape that showed him in the stairwell at 80 Lafayette Street.

“I saw him frantically running up the stairs while people were exiting the building because the fire alarm had been pulled,” Colin Chenel said.

Campus police discovered Vongtau’s cell phone on the dorm’s roof and further investigation revealed that he was wedged between a dorm and a low-rise garage. Firefighters had to break down a cinder block wall to reach him.

An NYU spokesperson said that Vongtau was reported missing on Saturday night and that a search was immediately initiated. Friends claim that campus security didn’t do anything until Sunday afternoon.

“Had we not told the security guards, the three of us 19-year-old students, to check the roof they would not have found him for who knows how long and he would probably be dead right now,” Michael Yablon said.

The FDNY responded to the situation at around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday and the man was extricated about an hour-and-a-half later.

“He was moving, he was moving his arms,” a firefighter told 1010 WINS Gary Baumgarten.

The man was taken to an area hospital for further assessment.

The FDNY rescued an NYU student who was stuck between a pair of buildings on Sunday. (Credit 1010 WINS/Gary Baumgarten)

Investigators said that they are not sure if Vongtau fell from the roof but a source close to the investigation said that he may have been under the influence of a controlled substance at the time.